


frazzled

by transbuck



Series: domestic life was never quite my style [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Adopted Children, Dad Buck is a thing i need in my life, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Parenthood, buck adopts the baby from the pilot bc uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-09-26 22:36:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17150354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transbuck/pseuds/transbuck
Summary: Buck hasn't been at work in almost exactly two weeks.Eddie knows this because he has been counting the days since he last saw Buck.





	frazzled

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time writing from eddies pov so Bear With Me akshshja

Buck hasn't been at work in almost exactly two weeks.

Eddie knows this because he has been counting the days since he last saw Buck. He also knows that Buck's prolonged absence is not because he is sick because, normally, when Buck is sick, Maddie will tell Chimney, who will tell Eddie without him ever having to ask. The first day Buck was gone, Chimney had simply shrugged when Eddie first rushed up to him to find out where Buck was. That worried him.

The longer Buck was gone and the longer that Chimney couldn't tell him why, the more worried Eddie got.

Finally, exactly two weeks and one day since Eddie last saw Buck, he returns to work, looking like he hasn't slept in about twenty years. When Buck first trudges up to the upper kitchen, everyone shares an odd look. Hen looks like she's about to ask what's wrong with him, but the alarm interrupts her before she can get a word out. Everyone shares strange looks with each other in the truck on the way to the call. Buck seems tense the entire time.

When they all return to the station, Buck makes a beeline for the closest seat he can find, pulling out his phone and frantically types something in it. For what feels like the millionth time today, everyone shares a weird look. It's oddly tense and silent in the station as Bobby fixes up lunch for everyone. The tense atmosphere remains when he calls everyone over to eat.

Finally, a few minutes into lunch, someone says something.

"Hey, Buck, what's up with you?" Hen asks carefully.

Buck seems to have been half asleep in his seat, jolting at the sudden voice. "Hm?"

"You've been acting weird all day. Frazzled," Hen says, brows furrowing a bit. "Are you alright?"

"Oh! Um," Buck trails off a little, gaze darting from his lap, to his plate, and to the ceiling before finally landing on Hen. "Yeah, I just... I'm a little stressed out."

"Does this have anything to do with why you were gone for the last two weeks?" Eddie asks, finally finding his voice.

Buck glances over to Eddie, eyes a little wide. Almost as if he forgot that anyone else was there. "Uh, yeah, actually," he finally says.

Eddie frowns a little. "And why exactly were you gone? We were all pretty worried about you."

Buck shifts a little in his seat, gaze drifting to anything that isn't another person. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, looking like he's carefully considering his words. "I had, um, paternity leave. Yeah. Paternity leave."

Everyone goes a little wide-eyed at that. Sharing quick, shocked looks. That's clearly not the answer  _anyone_ expecting.

" _Paternity_ leave?" Hen finally asks after a lot of uncomfortable silence from everyone.

"Um. Yeah. Paternity leave," Buck confirms, tapping his hands on his lap.

"I'm sorry, but  _why_ were you on paternity leave? Since when did you get a girl pregnant?" Chimney asks.

"Since never. Hopefully," Buck replies, frowning a little. "I, um, adopted a kid. A couple weeks ago. I- you all remember that baby from last year? The one that was in the pipes of that apartment building?" Everyone nods a little, missing the confused look on Eddie's face. He would have to ask somebody about that later. "Well, um, turns out, the mom wanted to give her up for adoption, 'cause she really didn't have the means of taking care of her, and I kinda... I dunno, I fell in love with the kid the day we saved her, I guess. So I reached out to her to look into adopting her baby. And, uh, today's my first day being away from her since she came home, so I'm a little stressed out, even though I trust Mads with her."

Eddie sits back in his seat, lets out a soft little breath. He imagines what Buck must look like with his new daughter, and his heart melts at the image. The thought of Buck holding his new little girl close to his chest, talking to her gently, it brings a wide grin to Eddie's face.

"Well, congrats, Buck," Bobby says, breaking Eddie out of his daydreaming. "What's her name?"

Buck smiles bashfully, ducks his head a little. "Gee, thanks, Cap. Her, uh, her name is Olivia. Olivia Buckley," he says, and just saying her name seems to bring a smile to his face. It makes Eddie fall a little more in love with him.

"That's adorable. Who knew you were capable of this much responsibility?" Hen says with a cheeky grin.

"Ha ha," Buck says, rolling his eyes, and everyone laughs a little. "To be fair, though, I never realized how _excited_ I would be to be a parent. I also never realized how much _sleep_ I'd be losing."

Everyone shares a hearty laugh before sinking back into lunch, a lot less tense than before.

 

***

 

A while later, Eddie's relaxing on the couch when Buck sits down blindly next to him, narrowly missing his lap. He gets kind of flustered when he thinks about Buck up and sitting in his lap, but he quickly shoves the thought away. Eddie watches curiously as Buck types something in his phone. 

"Hi?" Eddie asks.

Buck looks up, looking as if he didn't realize anyone else was there. "Oh! Hey. Sorry, didn't see you there."

Eddie gives him a look, smiles a crookedly. "Worried about Olivia?" His heart beats a little faster as his mind reminds him of how sweet Buck must be with his daughter. 

Buck gives him a shocked sort of look before smiling bashfully. "Yeah. Maddie's probably this close to blocking me so I don't blow up her phone any more."

"I think it's sweet," Eddie says carefully, his smile only widening.

Buck smiles back, chuckles under his breath, ducks his head. "Do you wanna meet her?" he asks after a brief but comfortable silence. 

"I- I would like that," Eddie replies, cheeks reddening. He ducks his head a little, and when he looks back up and sees the look on Buck's face, he blushes even more. 

"Cool. I'll- I'll see you tonight then, yeah?" Buck asks with a hopeful sort of glimmer in his eyes

"Yeah. I'll see you tonight," Eddie replies, and the look of excitement on Buck's face makes him feel warm all over. 

 

***

 

After both of their shifts are over, they head over to Buck's place in each of their respective cars. Eddie is more nervous and excited at the same time than he ever has been to meet Buck's daughter. The entire way over, he imagine lets himself fantasize about being with Buck, about Olivia being his daughter, about Christopher being Buck's son. It makes his heart melt, but, at the same time, it makes his heart ache a little to remember that that might not ever come true. 

Eddie manages to shove all his fantasies of being with Buck aside when they finally make it to his place. He anxiously taps his hands on his thighs as he follows Buck to the front door, inside, and, oh.

The first thing Eddie sees is Buck's sister holding a little girl, and she is _adorable_. Eddie immediately adores Buck's daughter. 

Buck gasps beside him, rushes forward to take Olivia into his arms. "Oh, there's my little girl. What are you still doing up?" he coos, pressing kisses all over his daughter's face.

"I figured you'd wanna see her, put her to bed yourself," Maddie says, grinning broadly.

Buck looks up at Maddie, gives her a grateful smile. "You know me so well." He turns toward Eddie now, and the love on his face makes Eddie fall even more in love, something he didn't think possible. "You wanna say hi?"

Eddie smiles, nods, moves to stand behind Buck and look down at Olivia over his shoulder. "Oh, she's adorable," he whispers, grinning down at the girl. "You're so adorable, aren't you? The cutest girl in the world."

Olivia gurgles happily, and the look of happiness in Buck's eyes only grows. "Oh, don't we know it. C'mon, sweet pea, we gotta get you to bed." He presses a kiss to Olivia's forehead, turns his head to send an apologetic look to Eddie. "Sorry, I gotta cut this short."

"It's fine," Eddie says with a grin. "She's gotta get her rest, yeah? I can see her some other time. Go." He shoos Buck away, to which Buck chuckles a little before walking off. 

Maddie saunters up to Eddie's side once Buck has left the room. "Wanna go watch him put her to bed with me? It is seriously the most precious thing ever."

"Are you sure he'd be okay with that?" Eddie asks. "I mean, definitely, I absolutely wanna see that, but if it's, like, a private, family thing, I don't wanna infringe on that."

"Nonsense. It's _you_. Buck would be delighted," Maddie says, rolling her eyes despite the smile on her face. She walks off in the same direction Buck left in, Eddie following with a confused sort of look on his face.

Eddie can't help the small gasp that escapes him when he's in the hallway across from Olivia's room with Maddie by his side. The way Buck holds his daughter close, whispers gently to her, rocks her in his arms, it makes Eddie's heart beat faster. "Oh," he murmurs. 

"Sweet, isn't it?" Maddie asks. "He's really taken to this whole fatherhood thing a lot better than I thought he was going to."

"He's- I-  _wow_." Eddie has never really struggled with words before, but the image in front of him kind of short circuits his brain.

"Wow. You really need to ask him out already, this whole mutual pining thing isn't cute anymore," Maddie says, rolling her eyes.

Eddie looks back at her, eyes wide in shock. He fumbles with his words for a moment. "Um. Would you be okay with that? If I asked him out?"

Maddie gives him a very unimpressed look. "I literally just told you to ask him out. Do you need my blessing or something?" Eddie blushes, averts his gaze to look back at Buck. "Seriously, though," Maddie continues. "This whole crush of yours is a lot less one-sided than you probably think it is. He talks about you all the time. I've heard him telling Olivia all about you." Eddie ducks his head, laughs breathlessly. "Anyway, I gotta go. I'm taking night shifts until Buck can get something else figured out. Let him know I had to head out?" She doesn't wait to hear Eddie's response, simply turns on her heel and makes her way out of the apartment.

Eddie lets himself watch Buck with his daughter for a few more moments before making his way back into the living room and making himself comfortable on the couch. A few more minutes later, and Buck is returning, a baby monitor in hand. "Hey, where's Maddie?" he asks, plopping himself down on the couch next to Eddie.

Eddie looks up, startled. "Oh, she left for work. Said she's picking up night shifts until you can get something else figured out for childcare."

Buck huffs, runs a hand down his face. "Yeah, that's going to take a while. It's hard to find someone reliable, y'know?" He shakes his had to himself, looks over at Eddie. "I knew it was gonna be hard to be a single parent, but I never thought it would be  _this_ hard."

Eddie's about to say something in response, but he pauses. Takes a moment to consider his words carefully. "What if you didn't have to do it alone?"

Buck's brows furrow, and he tilts his head a little. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Eddie says, mouth feeling dry all of a sudden, "Christopher's always wanted a little sister. And I've always liked the idea of having a daughter."

Buck narrows his eyes a little, studies Eddie for a moment. "Is this... Are you asking me to be your boyfriend or something?"

Eddie swallows. "And what if I am?"

Buck pauses again, scoots ever so slightly closer to Eddie. "Then I'd ask you where you're taking me for our first date."

"And what if I tell you that we can go wherever you want?" Eddie asks carefully. The smile that spreads across Buck's face makes the risk worth it.

"I'd tell you it's a date," Buck says, relaxing into his seat, "and that I'll figure out how soon Maddie can watch Olivia."

Eddie opens his mouth to say something else, pauses for a moment to carefully consider his words. "And if I asked if I could kiss you right now?"

Buck gives him a look that leaves him feeling warm all over, licks his lips. "I'd ask you why you didn't say anything sooner."

They watch each other silently for a moment before Eddie surges forward, takes Buck's face in his hands and kisses him like his life depends on it. Buck places on hand on Eddie's face and one on his waist, returns the kiss with matching enthusiasm. Just as Eddie's about to move into Buck's lap to straddle him, escalate this even further, a sudden cry comes out of the baby monitor. They pull away as if they've just been caught doing something they're not supposed to.

"I should-" Buck starts, rushing to stand up. Eddie follows.

"Yeah, of course," Eddie replies. As Buck starts to rush off, Eddie stops him with a gentle hand on his elbow. When Buck looks back at him, Eddie presses a sweet, quick kiss to his lips.

Buck grins widely and is about to say something when another cry comes from the monitor. "I'll- I'll be right back," he says before rushing off.

Eddie takes a deep breath, sits back down while running a hand over his face. Part of him is in shock. Disbelief. He almost can't believe he just kissed Buck. It was as exhilarating as he always dreamt it would be. Eddie's broken out of his thoughts when he hears Buck whispering softly through the baby monitor. He hadn't noticed that Buck had left it out there. He can't quite hear what Buck is saying, but he can hear softness in his voice, and it brings a fond smile to his face. Eventually, after what feels like hours, Buck returns, sits back down next to Eddie. "Hey, sorry about that," he murmurs.

"It's okay. I get it," Eddie replies quietly, reaching up to gently cup Buck's cheek. Buck leans into it. "So."

"So," Buck repeats, smiling crookedly. "What's up?"

"Just wondering," Eddie says. Buck gives him a confused sort of look. "Just wondering if I can call you my boyfriend," he clarifies.

"That depends," Buck replies, shifting a little in his seat. "Can I call  _you_ my boyfriend?"

Eddie snorts. "Of course."

"Then yeah, you can call me your boyfriend," Buck replies with a cheeky grin.

Eddie rolls his eyes, leans forward to press a slow, sweet kiss to Buck's lips. 

They spend some time on the couch like that, wrapped up in each other, lazily making out. It's nice. Eddie wishes it never had to end. But he can tell that Buck is wrestling with sleep, and he feels kind of bad about keeping him up for so long. "I shouldn't keep you up."

"Mm, it's fine," Buck says, voice a bit slurred with exhaustion.

"You sound like you're about to pass out. Come on, let's get you to bed. I think you've earned some sleep," Eddie tells him, slowly standing up and dragging Buck up with him.

"Can you stay?" Buck asks, sleepily rubbing at his eyes. "Please? Unless you have Christopher tonight?"

"No, I- Shannon has him tonight. Are you sure you want me here tonight?"

"Course I want you here," Buck says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. He reaches for Eddie's hand, carefully intertwines their fingers together. "I'd sleep a whole lot better with you here."

"Okay, okay, I'll stay," Eddie says through soft laughter. "Lead the way."

Buck tries to smile through a yawn before dragging Eddie along with him to his room, making sure to grab the baby monitor on the way.

Later, when they're curled up in Buck's bed, Buck with his head on Eddie's chest, Eddie can't help but think how lucky he is to have this man in his life. When he finally falls asleep, it's with thoughts of quiet nights with Buck and his daughter.


End file.
